Datadog is a unified monitoring platform with competitive pricing starting at $15/month per host and faster onboarding (15 minutes), while Splunk is an enterprise-focused data platform with deeper log analytics capabilities but higher starting costs around $120/day and longer implementation timelines (4-8 weeks).
Datadog vs Splunk — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Choose Datadog if you need faster deployment, lower costs, unified observability across infrastructure and applications, and modern DevOps workflows. Choose Splunk if you require advanced compliance reporting, deep historical log analysis for security investigations, or have existing enterprise licensing agreements and dedicated IT teams to manage complex deployments.
Comprehensive observability platform with 600+ integrations, supporting metrics, logs, traces, and RUM.
Enterprise data platform for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated data.
APM (Application Performance Monitoring)
Log Ingestion Volume (at $10k/month spend)
Structured comparison data for Datadog vs Splunk with 181 attributes.
Default Data Retention (included in pricing)
Base Monthly Pricing (1GB/day ingestion)
Maximum Data Ingestion Per Day (Enterprise)
Typical Enterprise Annual Cost (1000 hosts)
Starting Annual Cost (single user/endpoint)
Datadog vs Splunk — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Datadog vs Splunk.
Datadog is significantly cheaper for small teams. Datadog's per-host model means a startup with 10 servers pays ~$150/month, while Splunk's minimum $3,600/month commitment makes it prohibitive for companies under 50 employees. Datadog also includes APM at no extra cost, whereas Splunk charges separately.
Can Splunk do real-time alerting like Datadog?
Yes, but Splunk's strength is historical analysis and complex searches. Splunk can send real-time alerts, but Datadog's sub-second metric granularity and purpose-built alerting rules make it faster for ops teams. Splunk excels at forensic investigation after incidents occur, not preventing them in real-time.
Which requires more technical expertise to use?
Datadog has a gentler learning curve with visual dashboard builders and pre-configured dashboards for common services. Splunk's SPL query language is powerful but requires training; most organizations hire Splunk specialists or take 4-8 week onboarding. Datadog can be configured by junior DevOps engineers within days.
Is Splunk better for security and compliance?
Yes, for regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government). Splunk has 20+ years of SIEM expertise and pre-built compliance templates for HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and NIST. Datadog is adding security features but is primarily a monitoring platform. For security operations centers (SOCs), Splunk remains the industry standard.
Can I use both Datadog and Splunk together?
Yes, many large enterprises do. Common pattern: Datadog for real-time infrastructure/APM alerting, Splunk for centralized security logs, compliance auditing, and historical forensics. They integrate via APIs, though this creates operational complexity and dual licensing costs (~$14k+/month for mid-market).